System and method for constructing and displaying active virtual reality cyber malls, show rooms, galleries, stores, museums, and objects within

ABSTRACT

A first virtual reality scene corresponding to a physical scene is displayed. The first virtual reality scene includes a plurality of objects. The plurality of objects is selectable by a user and is built from a plurality of images representing varied views of the plurality of objects in the physical scene. The user is enabled to navigate within the first virtual reality scene to observe the first virtual reality scene from at least two perspectives. The user is enabled to rotate at least one of the plurality of objects within the first virtual reality scene about at least one axis. An object in the first virtual reality scene maybe linked with a second virtual reality scene. If an object selected by a viewer is linked with a second virtual reality scene, the second virtual reality scene is displayed, and the viewer is enabled to navigate in the second virtual reality scene and select the plurality of objects presented in the second virtual reality scene. A selection received from the user corresponds to at least one of the plurality of objects within the first virtual reality scene. In response to the selection, additional information about a selected at least one of the plurality of objects is displayed. The additional information includes at least one of a link to the detailed information or specification of the object, a link to buy and a link to bid on the selected at least one of the plurality of objects.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a Continuation Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/847,257, filed on Sep. 8, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/284,149, filed on May 21, 2014, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/853,788, filed on Mar. 29, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/037,356, filed on Feb. 28, 2011; which is a continuation application of U.S. Pat. No. 7,899,719, filed on Jul. 29, 2009; which is a continuation application of U.S. Pat. No. 7,574,381, filed Aug. 2, 2000; which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/147,716, filed Aug. 6, 1999. The disclosures of all the foregoing patent documents are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein, including Figures, Claims, and Tables.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the brick-and-mortar world, showrooms, galleries, and stores are used to display furnishing, interior accessories, fashion, art, antiques, or other objects. Shopping centers, malls, and main streets are constructed to aggregate a large number of stores. The on-line equivalent of such commerce components are constructed with database containing information for such objects or stores sorted with nesting categories. The objects in conventional cyber stores, galleries, and show rooms are represented on the client/user computer screens as index lists of textual or thumbnail entries. The stores in a conventional cybermall are represented by a collection of “banner” entries (see FIGS. 1A1, 1A2, 1B, 1C1, 1C2, 1C3, 1D1, 1E1, 1E2, 1E3, 1E4, 1E5, 1F). Thumbnails are small graphical representation of an object, serving as an index and a link to detailed information regarding the object. Banner is a small graphical box-like icon with the logo and name of a business entity on the Web Clicking on a thumbnail usually brings an enlarged photograph and/or descriptions of the object from the server database to the client/user's computer screen. Clicking on a “banner” brings the user to the home page of the business entity the banner represents.

A typical on-line gallery or store, for example, would show category titles of the gallery collections or store items, with some textual entries or graphical thumbnails of selected “featured” exhibits or items. When a particular “last stop” category on a particular categorical path is clicked, the items or objects sorted under the category are presented in an index list of textual one-line or thumbnail entries. The index could be very long, and partitioned into many web pages (each may be several print pages long), accessible on-web page-at-a-time. Clicking on a textual or thumbnail entry or brings detailed textual description and an enlarged version of the thumbnail, if available, again only one-at-a-time (see FIGS. 1A1 and 1A2).

Virtual Reality software, such as Apple Computing Quick Time, or Macromedia Flash, on the other hand, has been developed to show scrolling panoramic views of a room or a scene, or to rotate a three-dimensional object to show its 360-degree views. The Virtual Reality source data is typically prepared by shooting multiple still photographs of a room, a scene, or an object from sequentially varying angles, and re-compose the still photographs in the correct spatial-time sequence to form a contiguous panoramic view. Video filming can also be used. Viewing the Virtual Reality image at the viewer's computer screen is controlled by the “mouse,” a computer input device (see FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C) and the control buttons on the VR “viewing window” on the computer screen. The panoramic view of a scene is scrolled across the viewing window. The still shots from sequentially varying angles of a 3-D object is “flashed” onto the VR viewing window, producing an illusion of the object rotating in the window, given a large enough number of still shots, and fast enough speed of spatial-time re-composition or “flashing.”

Virtual Reality has not been used in actionable on-line or electronic commerce environment, except for viewing purposes only, such as displaying a property or a house on-line on Real-Estate listing sites as in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C; or, rotating a 3-D object, such as a car on car sites; or, for other purely entertainment purposes, such as displaying the content of a museum. In all cases, the Virtual Reality graphical data packet is treated as a single data entity with a single “packet address,” accessed by clicking a VR or 3D button, and viewed by controlling the temporal scanning or rotation using the control buttons on the computer screen in conjunction with the button on the input device, the mouse. From within the Virtual Reality data packet, there is no link to the external world outside the data packet. Therefore, there is no practical application other than its visual and entertainment value. One cannot do anything with the Virtual Reality presentation of the known-art, other than looking at it and enjoying it.

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus to construct and display electronic/cyber/on-line showrooms, galleries, stores and malls to emulate the physical brick and mortar world, in additional to the conventional category and index listing e-commerce construct of the Web. Virtual Reality (VR) shots and/or Video films are made to visually present a show room, gallery, store, or object with more resemblance to the physical world we live. Each still picture of the VR shots or each frame of the video film is given a unique frame address. Each significant and unique object in the VR data packet is given a unique identification, indexed and addressed by the area the object occupies in a picture or a frame. Links are associated with each such object, such that detailed information (such as graphical, video, audio, or textual descriptions) related to the objects stored external to the VR date packet, can be retrieved from the database on demand, when the objects in the VR images are “selected”/“clicked.”

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A1 illustrates prior art on-line malls, stores, galleries, and showrooms.

FIG. 1A2 illustrates a prior art AOL Mall having a collection of department stores represented by banners. Other types of stores are sorted under categories, and accessed through the category listing at the bottom of the page.

FIG. 1B illustrates a prior art AOL Apparel Store's listing.

FIGS. 1C1, 1C2 and 1C3 illustrate a prior art dELiAs.Com store listed under the AOL Apparel Stores.

FIGS. 1D1 and 1D2 illustrate prior art Artnet.Com Galleries.

FIG. 1E1 illustrates a prior art Ebay home page.

FIGS. 1E2 through 1E4 illustrate prior art Ebay Galleries.

FIG. 1E5 illustrates a prior art first print page of the first web-page of a 36 web-page Ebay Furniture listing

FIG. 1F illustrates a prior art Design Toscano Cyber Show Room.

FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C illustrate prior art Virtual Reality: Virtual touring of a home displayed on the www.hamboo.com web site. There is no other function beyond the visual tour: scrolling the panoramic image to the left, to the right, and look at it.

FIG. 3A illustrates a central scene and the primary object of a Virtual Reality presentation of a museum hall with small buttons at the lower left corner to scroll the panoramic scene of the Hall to the left, right, up, down and zoom-in and pan-out.

FIG. 3B illustrates nine Virtual Reality frames around the central object in the hall, scanning from the left of the object through the object, to the right of the object, each assigned its unique frame identity in the present invention.

FIG. 3C illustrates a rectangular area closely surrounding the object that is cut, and marked out and identified separately from the rest of the picture/frame in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3D illustrates an example of data stored in memory space external to the Virtual Reality data packet, linked to the object image from within the Virtual Reality data packet.

FIG. 3E illustrates the object with control buttons at the lower left corner resulting from activation of the “Virtual Reality” button in FIG. 3D in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3F illustrates 12 of the standard 36 frames shot form equally spaced angles 360-degrees around the object in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring again to prior art FIG. 2A, clicking on the “Exterior Front” selection on the menu at the left side, initiates the downloading of the “panoramic image of the exterior front view of the house from the server database, as noted under the “Bamboo.com/Virtual Tour” logo at the center of the page.

Referring again to prior art FIG. 2B, when the downloading of the panoramic image is complete, the exterior scene of the home scrolls across the “VR window” on the computer screen. The buttons on the lower left corner of the VR window are control buttons activated by the computer mouse. By moving the cursor to the “left” arrow, and pressing down

Referring now to prior art FIG. 2C, clicking on the “Master Bedroom” selection on the menu at the left side of the page, causes the “panoramic” image of the master bedroom, to download from the site-server to the client/user's computer screen. The scrolling and stopping functions are identical to those in FIG. 2B.

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus to construct and display electronic/cyber/on-line showrooms, galleries, stores and malls to emulate the physical showrooms, galleries, stores, and malls. Virtual Reality (VR) shots with audio segments, and/or Video films are made to visually, audibly, and contiguously present a show room, gallery, store, or object. Each still picture 32A of the VR shots or each frame 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 e, 30 f, 30 g, 30 h, and 30 i of the video film is given a unique frame address within the VR packet address. Thus, each picture 32A or each frame 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 e, 30 f, 30 g, 30 h, and 30 i is identifiable via the address of the packet and the address of the frame 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 e, 30 f, 30 g, 30 h, and 30 i. Each significant and unique object 32 in the VR data packet, is given an unique identification, indexed by the area 50 the unique object 32 occupies in the frames 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 e, 30 f, 30 g, 30 h, and 30 i or pictures 32A containing the object. Links are assigned to that unique object 32, which may appear in multiple frames, such that detailed information (such as graphical, VR, video, audio, or textual descriptions) related to the object 32 addressed by the links, can be retrieved from the database external to the VR data packet, on demand, such as when the object 32 in the proximity frames is “clicked,” from any of the proximity frames.

Clicking on a particular object 32 in a frame 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 e, 30 f, 30 g, 30 h, and 30 i, or in any of the proximity frames 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 e, 30 f, 30 g, and 30 h in a VR presentation of a show room, gallery, or store, would select the link/links associated with the particular object 32 clicked, and store the links in a file on the client/use computer. Multiple objects can be “clicked,”—i.e., selected, within a VR presentation. When the viewing and the selection process is completed, and the collection of “clicked” links is submitted to the server, by clicking a “submit” button, all data, whether video, audio, VR, graphics, or textual, addressed by the links submitted are brought from the server database to the client/user/user computer with reference to each selected object.

FIG. 3A shows the central scene about a primary object 32, Venus of Milo of a Virtual Reality presentation of a museum hall. The small buttons 25 at the lower left corner scrolls the panoramic scene of the Hall to the left, right, up, down, and zoom-in and pan-out. A selected set of nine frames 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 e, 30 f, 30 g, 30 h, and 30 i around the primary object 32 in this example, are shown in FIG. 3B. The limit of the conventional Virtual Reality of the known-art is here. There is no interaction or linking mechanism from inside the Virtual Reality images, such as these frames, to data outside of the VR packet. In FIG. 3B, there are nine Virtual Reality frames 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 d, 30 f, 30 g, 30 h, and 30 i around the primary object 32 in the hall, scanning from the left of the object through the object, to the right of the object, each assigned its unique frame identity in the present invention.

In our implementation, each frame 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 e, 30 f, 30 g, 30 h, and 30 i in the Virtual Reality data packet is given an identification. A primary object 32 that appears in multiple proximity frames would be “cut out” from the rest of each frame, or the scene, and given a unique identification, and assigned a link, or a collection of links, to link to external data storage space that stores data associated with the object 32. The primary object 32 appearing on several proximity frames, such as from FIG. 3B—frame 30 b through frame 30 h, would be identified as one object, and given the same set of links.

A rectangular area 50 closely surrounding the object 32 in all of the proximity frames is cut as shown in FIG. 3C, and marked out and separated from the rest of the frame in order to be assigned a separate and unique identity to the object 32. This is done for frame 30 b through frame 30 h in FIG. 3B. The rectangular area 50 in all 7 frames 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 e, 30 f, 30 g, and 30 h are assigned the same identity representing the object 32, and the same links to the memory space external to the Virtual Reality Frames, containing the detailed information related to the object 32. Clicking within the rectangular area 50 in all 7 frames 30 b, 30 c, 30 d, 30 e, 30 f, 30 g and 30 h results in linking to the same set of data.

FIG. 3D shows frames, video, or VR can all be linked and called on demand. In this example, the enlarged still image 32A in FIG. 3D is further linked to another virtual Reality data packet that presents the object in 360-degree rotation.

Referring now to FIG. 3E, clicking the “Virtual Reality55 button 70 in FIG. 3D, brings the “rotating” Virtual Reality data packet of the object, with the control buttons 25 at the lower left corner. FIG. 3F shows the 12 of the standard 36 frames 80 a, 80 b, 80 c, 80 d, 80 e, 80 f, 80 g, 80 h, 80 i, 80 j, 80 k and 801 shot from equally spaced angles, 360-degrees around the object. When the number of shots and the speed of sequentially “flashing in55 the still images into the viewing window are compatible, human eyes perceive that the object rotates on the viewing window. A larger number of shots would permit a smoother and slower rotation.

The invention enables practical and actionable commerce applications of Virtual Reality and Video casting or screaming technologies on the web, for example, in displaying objects in show rooms, galleries, stores, or stores in malls, shopping centers, or on main streets in a “real life55, in addition to conventional categorization, search, and listing presentations in the convention web stores and galleries. The current invention enables object images to be linked to additional textual, audio, graphical, video, or VR data stored in the database outside of the Virtual Reality or Video data packet. Clicking on the image of a sofa in such an “active Virtual Reality55 show room of this invention for example, of an interior furnishing show room, would deposit the links associated with the image to a temporary file. When the entire VR or Video presentation is viewed, and the selection of multiple interested objects shown in the VR presentation is completed, the collection of links of the objects selected is submitted to the server from the client/user computer, to retrieve data addressed by the submitted links, including but not limited to detailed audio or textual descriptions, additional graphics or VR presentations, pricing information and ordering/or buying submission mechanism, sorted and presented by each object at command.

The present invention is implemented using software which can be written in many programming languages, or implemented with many web-page generation tools. The present invention can be used on a global or local computer network, on a personal computer, on viewable storage media such as a CD ROM, on a wireless telephone, on a wireless personal assistant such as a Palm Pilot®, or on any type of wired or wireless device that enables digitally stored information to be viewed on a display device. Also, information displayed and viewed using the present invention can be printed, stored to other storage medium, and electronically mailed to third parties.

Numerous modifications to and alternative embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled to the art in view of the foregoing description. Accordingly, this description is to be construed as illustrative only and is for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the best mode of carrying out the invention. Details of the structure may be varied substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of all modifications which come within the scope of the appended claims is reserved. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method, comprising: displaying a first virtual reality scene corresponding to a physical scene, wherein the first virtual reality scene includes a plurality of objects, the plurality of objects being selectable by a user and being built from a plurality of images representing varied views of the plurality of objects in the physical scene; enabling the user to navigate within the first virtual reality scene to observe the first virtual reality scene; enabling the user to select a selected object from the plurality of objects within the first virtual reality scene; in response to the user selecting the selected object, performing the following when the selected object within the first virtual reality scene is linked to a second virtual reality scene concerning the object: displaying the second virtual reality scene, and enabling the user to navigate within the second virtual reality scene and select at least one object presented within the second virtual reality scene, wherein the at least one objects within the second virtual reality scene are linked with a corresponding information packet; and in response to the user selecting the selected object, performing the following when the selected object within the virtual reality scene is a single object and linked to an information packet concerning the selected object: displaying the information packet linked to selected object to the user.
 2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of images has a unique image address.
 3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information packet concerning the selected object includes an actionable transaction mechanism.
 4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information packet concerning the selected object includes digital representations of one or more objects related to the selected object.
 5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the selected object is indexed by an area that the representation of the selected object occupies in the first virtual reality scene or the second virtual reality scene.
 6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user selects the selected object by indicating an area that the selected object occupies, using an input mechanism.
 7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user selects the selected object by using a mechanism indicative of how the selected object may commonly be called.
 8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the selected object corresponds to a digital representation of at least one of a store front, an exhibition room, a painting, a sculpture, a photograph, furniture, tapestry or a rug.
 9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, the information packet concerning the selected object contains at least one of the following: a rotating display of the selected object, specifications of the selected object, and a mechanism for conducting a commerce action concerning the selected object.
 10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information packet concerning the selected object contains a third virtual reality scene.
 11. A system comprising: a computer readable storage medium capable of non-transitorily storing one or more programs configured for execution by one or more computer processors, wherein the one or more processors are communicatively coupled to a display device and a user input device, the display device being configured to be controlled by the one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions that cause the one or more processors to: display on the display device a first virtual reality scene corresponding to a physical scene, wherein the first virtual reality scene exhibits a plurality of objects that are selectable by a user, and wherein the first virtual reality scene is built from a plurality of images representing varied views of the physical scene and varied views of the plurality of objects; enable the user to navigate within the first virtual reality scene and observe the first virtual reality scene from one or more perspectives; enable the user to select at least one object from the plurality of objects; in response to the selection of the selected object, performing the following when the selected object is linked to a second virtual reality scene: displaying the second virtual reality scene, and enabling the user to navigate within the second virtual reality scene and select at least one object presented within the second virtual reality scene, wherein the at least one object in the second virtual reality scene is linked with a corresponding information packet; in response to the selection of the selected object, performing the following when the selected object is a single object and linked to an information packet concerning the selected object: displaying the information packet concerning the selected object to the user.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein each image has a unique image address.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the additional information includes actionable commerce mechanism.
 14. The system of claim 11 wherein the additional information includes digital representations of one or more objects related to the selected object.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the selected object is indexed by an area that the representation of the selected object occupies in the first virtual reality scene or the second virtual reality scene.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the user selects the selected object by indicating an area that the selected object occupies, using an input device.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the user selects the selected object by activating an input mechanism indicative of how the selected object may commonly be called.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein, the information packet concerning the selected object contains at least one of the following: a rotating display of the object, specifications of the object, a mechanism for conducting a commerce action concerning the object.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein the information packet concerning the selected object contains a third virtual reality scene.
 20. A system comprising: a computer readable storage medium capable of non-transitorily storing one or more programs configured for execution by one or more computer processors, wherein the one or more processors are communicatively coupled to a display device configured to be controlled by the one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions that cause the one or more processors to: display on the display device an interactive virtual reality scene, wherein the virtual reality scene exhibits a plurality of objects selectable by a user, each selectable object linked to an information packet related to the object; the virtual reality scene being built from a plurality of images representing varied views of a physical scene and varied views of the plurality of objects; and enable a user to navigate within the virtual reality scene and observe the virtual reality scene from one or more perspectives so that when receiving from the user a selection of at least one selectable object within the virtual reality scene, in response to the user selection the linked actionable information packet is displayed, wherein the actionable information packet includes at least one of the following: a second interactive virtual reality scene with features as described above, a description of the selected object with links to additional information, a mechanism for making a user request or conducting a commerce transaction.
 21. A computer implemented method, comprising: interactively displaying a first virtual reality scene, wherein the first virtual reality scene exhibits a plurality of objects selectable by a user, the first virtual reality scene being built from a plurality of images representing varied views of a physical scene and varied views of the plurality of objects, wherein at least one of the objects is linked to an actionable information packet related to the object; enabling a user to navigate within the first virtual reality scene and observe the first virtual reality scene from one or more perspectives: responding to a user selection of at least one object of the plurality of objects within the first virtual reality scene by displaying a linked actionable information packet for selected at least one object, the actionable information packet comprising at least one of the following: a second interactive virtual reality scene with features as in the first virtual reality scene, a description of the selected at least one object with links to additional information, a mechanism for making a user request or conducting a commerce transaction. 